BLMS, CMS runners stand out at Bonner Springs Invitational

Thunderstorms rolled in as the middle school races began Saturday at the Bonner Springs Invitational, but it wasn’t enough to stop the races from taking place on the new Kansas Speedway course.

The seventh-grade 1,600-meter race and the eighth-grade 3,200-meter race both featured runners from Basehor-Linwood Middle School and Clark Middle School.

In the seventh-grade competition, Basehor-Linwood’s Jonathan Harms was the fifth-place finisher in the boys race with a time of 6 minutes, 4.79 seconds. Teammate Cody Phippen was 17th in 6:26.69 and Zain Drew was 25th in 6:36.63.

In the seventh-grade girls’ race, the BLMS girls finished second out of six teams and had a few of the top individuals. Aubrey Torkelson was fourth in 6:24.38, Calder Holland finished ninth in 6:45.99, Claire Walsh placed 11th in 6:51.25 and Mariah Oliva was 25th in 7:06.28. Katelyn Rose was the top finisher from Clark Middle School. She took 22nd in 7:03.06.

In eighth-grade competition, the BLMS boys finished first and the CMS boys were fourth in the six-team competition.

Clark’s Ben Bailey was the top local finisher. He placed seventh in 13:15.11. Teammate Isaac Bolton was 27th in 14:42.97.

BLMS had balance at the top. Garrett Cook finished ninth in 13:21.65, Aden Shorney was 11th in 13:46.18, Jacob Schneider finished 12th in 13:47.40, Maliq Gaines was 17th in 14:18.38, Bevin Coon took 19th in 14:23.06, Montese Gaines was 20th in 14:26.42 and Tyler Miller was 21st in 14:27.01.

In the eighth-grade girls’ race, BLMS finished fourth and was led by Allie Johnson, who took 13th in 14:43.50. Madeline Falley was 22nd in 15:33.56 and Rachel Tindell took 23rd in 15:46.26. Taylor Vanden Hull was the top CMS runner as she placed 14th in 14:45.80.